I noticed that my next post will be my 200th one for Old School Gamer Magazine. I decided to use this post to diagram how I got to be where I am in the video game community. It shows how I became a staff member at Old School Gamer Magazine.
I was called by Ryan Burger in October 2017, nearly 3 years ago. He got my name from Walter Day who I have been working a lot with since 2008. Throughout the years I have met some really cool people in the gaming industry. Writers, developers, world record holders, game designers, historians, etc.There are way too many names to call out, but I put in my diagram a few that I have spent the most time with and people who helped me get to where I am today. I went from watching the King of Kong in 2008, to becoming a writer for several magazines and websites, world record holder on various console games, co-promoter of the Video Game Summit, committee member of the International Video Game Hall of Fame, and much more. I became a huge collector of video games (at one point had almost 3,700 individual console games and 27 systems). I became the main collector and inventory of the Walter Day Trading Cards (almost at 2,800 printed), as well as interviewing over 200 trading card holders, with more in the works. I have had a college class do a paper on me and my career, interviewed for many gaming websites and published my very first book, with a 2nd one in the works.
There has always been positive things that go with my gaming experiences, it has helped me get through tough times and sad times. I can always count on the community to energize and heighten my mood.This year has been very tough, as I am not able to be with many of my friends in the industry because most events were cancelled, including my own. I wanted to thank everyone I have had involvement with and met throughout the years, I would not change a thing and hope next year we are back at events and hanging out. Be safe out there. –Todd
Todd Friedman is heavily involved in the retro gaming community and has co-promoted the Video Game Summit in Chicago, IL for the past 16 years. He also has published 2 books and written for various different gaming magazines including Old School Gamer.
